One of the most effective and successfully used marketing strategies is to create urgency. In marketing, giving your audience a sense of urgency can motivate potential buyers to make quick decisions to not miss out on a particular opportunity, offer, or run out of the few available units that may be available.
It is a very common technique to create artificial scarcity, or simply to offer for a reduced period or in limited units. It certainly plays on the fear of missing an opportunity. In some cases there is no doubt that the application of these techniques indiscriminately may be morally questionable, but it is equally true that we do not always have sufficient quantities of a given product to satisfy all the potential demand that may exist, and in this sense, rewards are given to those who are the first to acquire it.
That is why when we offer products or services in limited quantities we are somehow inciting our customers to act immediately so as not to lose the offer and we are also raising their perceived value.
Since the limitation must be real and justified, be sure to clearly communicate the available quantity to which the offer applies, and the limited time you are offering, i.e. its duration, so that consumers perceive and understand the real urgency of your call to action.
It is clear and implicit that another effective way to generate urgency, which can be a collateral or complementary consequence of the previous one, is to implement offers for a limited time. Promotions that have close expiration dates associated with them, such as flash discounts, weekend sales, special anniversary promotions, or those that run for only ten days, can encourage customers to make their purchases more quickly.
Knowing this, use techniques that increase that sense of urgency where acting is important and time is running out by putting timers on your website or in your emails. This makes the remaining time stand out, creating additional pressure to act without delay before the count reaches zero. The interested audience won’t want to have that desolate sense of loss of seeing a countdown go to zero.
You can rely on many other techniques. For example, the testimonials and social proof you provide in your marketing can strengthen the sense of urgency. In this regard, showing how other customers have taken advantage of the limited offer and are satisfied with their decision can prompt the undecided to act.
Incorporating phrases such as “Only 5 units left” or “Last 24 hours to take advantage of this discount” in your communications can transform indecision into action.
If you feel it can be interesting to implement these techniques, and they make sense in the context of your product or service, you will surely make your audience feel the need to act quickly, increasing your conversions.
